Speeding Ticket

maz2702

I am 52 and had a clean licence since I passed my test at 18. During the first lockdown I got caught on a mobile speeding van (at the bottom of a very steep hill - in my defence?) on my way to work (34 on a 30 road) and received a penalty notice in the post. there was no option of a speed awareness course just pay the fine and have the points on  my licence. So with decades of no claim discount my insurance, has gone up due to the speeding points. 

During the second lock down both my husband and my brother in law ( who have both been caught speeding a number of times in the past and who both have had multiple points in the past for various reasons) were both on separate occasions caught speeding (one 42 in a 30 the other 78 on the A14). Both were offered the speed awareness course (for a cost) in exchange for having no points on their licence to therefore their insurance in unaffected. 

My question, is it viable to complain in hindsight for a speeding fine and points on the bases it seems extremely unfair that both my husband and brother in law who speed everywhere and seem at times in the past to collect points had the option to avoid them when I did not?

NeverinDoubt

maz2702 said:

I am 52 and had a clean licence since I passed my test at 18. During the first lockdown I got caught on a mobile speeding van (at the bottom of a very steep hill - in my defence?) on my way to work (34 on a 30 road) and received a penalty notice in the post. there was no option of a speed awareness course just pay the fine and have the points on  my licence. So with decades of no claim discount my insurance, has gone up due to the speeding points. 

During the second lock down both my husband and my brother in law ( who have both been caught speeding a number of times in the past and who both have had multiple points in the past for various reasons) were both on separate occasions caught speeding (one 42 in a 30 the other 78 on the A14). Both were offered the speed awareness course (for a cost) in exchange for having no points on their licence to therefore their insurance in unaffected. 

My question, is it viable to complain in hindsight for a speeding fine and points on the bases it seems extremely unfair that both my husband and brother in law who speed everywhere and seem at times in the past to collect points had the option to avoid them when I did not?

No point in complaining as it will not get you anywhere. Did all the offences occur in the same police authority?

Ebe_Scrooge

The offer of a speed awareness course is not an automatic right, and they're not offered by all police forces.

You can't really complain about the fine, and the fact that you were caught at the bottom of a hill is no defence.  It's an absolute offence, the only thing you could attempt if you really wanted would be to take it to court and argue that the speed detector was not properly calibrated (you're unlikely to succeed, and it will be a very expensive exercise).

Just suck it up and pay the fine.  To be honest, I'm surprised that a single SP30 offence would make a huge difference to your insurance premiums - it's definitely right at the lower end of the "seriousness" scale of offences.

Car_54

Are you sure it was 34? Enforcement normally starts at 35.

I suspect that the lack of a course offer was because of the first lockdown. Classroom courses were stopped for obvious reasons, and it took some time before they got online courses organised.

lisyloo

I too am surprised your insurance went up due to an SP30.
do you know that for a fact?
i.e. did you get quotes with an without SP30?

or did it just rise and you’re assuming it was that?

Jenni_D

When was your renewal?

force_ten

speed awareness courses were a classroom based course prior to Covid and because we were all in lockdown they could not offer classroom based courses so the only option was a fine and points 

as the pandemic dragged on they started developing and offering speed awareness courses online so you could complete the course without attending

you were unlucky that you were caught during the period of no speed awareness courses. l doubt very much that it would worth appealing retrospectively  

TooManyPoints

l doubt very much that it would worth appealing retrospectively

There is nothing to appeal. The offer of a course (and indeed of a fixed penalty) is entirely at the discretion of the police. Courses have no basis in law, are not covered by any legislation and if you are not offered one you have no case to argue.

Just for information, could you tell us which police force took action against you for 34mph in a 30 limit. As mentioned, enforcement normally begins at 35mph and it would help when advising others if we knew where they can expect to see action taken below the usual threshold. 

DB1904

maz2702 said:

I am 52 and had a clean licence since I passed my test at 18. During the first lockdown I got caught on a mobile speeding van (at the bottom of a very steep hill - in my defence?) on my way to work (34 on a 30 road) and received a penalty notice in the post. there was no option of a speed awareness course just pay the fine and have the points on  my licence. So with decades of no claim discount my insurance, has gone up due to the speeding points. 

During the second lock down both my husband and my brother in law ( who have both been caught speeding a number of times in the past and who both have had multiple points in the past for various reasons) were both on separate occasions caught speeding (one 42 in a 30 the other 78 on the A14). Both were offered the speed awareness course (for a cost) in exchange for having no points on their licence to therefore their insurance in unaffected. 

My question, is it viable to complain in hindsight for a speeding fine and points on the bases it seems extremely unfair that both my husband and brother in law who speed everywhere and seem at times in the past to collect points had the option to avoid them when I did not?

Do you think the police have breached their policy or procedure?

Aretnap

lisyloo said:

I too am surprised your insurance went up due to an SP30.
do you know that for a fact?
i.e. did you get quotes with an without SP30?

or did it just rise and you’re assuming it was that?

In the dim and distant past it was common for insurers not to raise premiums for a single SP30. Now it's not so common. 

At least part of the reason is speed awareness courses. In days of yore most people with a single speeding ticket had been caught once, just over the limit. But nowadays most people in that situation do a course instead. So nowadays most people with an SP30 have either been caught twice, or were caught quite a long way over the limit. So it's not surprising that insurance companies take a different view of them as a group. 

There are other reasons such as the fact that they're no longer allowed to use sex as a rating factor meaning that they have to put more emphasis on the rating factors they can still use. Factors that are correlating to sex, like having speeding convictions, are particularly useful as if you charge people with SP30s more, you are indirectly charging men more. (Men tend to speed more than women) 

tracytown

maz2702 said:

I am 52 and had a clean licence since I passed my test at 18. During the first lockdown I got caught on a mobile speeding van (at the bottom of a very steep hill - in my defence?) on my way to work (34 on a 30 road) and received a penalty notice in the post. there was no option of a speed awareness course just pay the fine and have the points on  my licence. So with decades of no claim discount my insurance, has gone up due to the speeding points. 

During the second lock down both my husband and my brother in law ( who have both been caught speeding a number of times in the past and who both have had multiple points in the past for various reasons) were both on separate occasions caught speeding (one 42 in a 30 the other 78 on the A14). Both were offered the speed awareness course (for a cost) in exchange for having no points on their licence to therefore their insurance in unaffected. 

My question, is it viable to complain in hindsight for a speeding fine and points on the bases it seems extremely unfair that both my husband and brother in law who speed everywhere and seem at times in the past to collect points had the option to avoid them when I did not?

No, by law once you accept the ticket (by paying for it) that is the end of the matter legally. You cannot change it and neither can the police. If you had not paid you could have some course of action, but you have. 

I know this because I was caught and given a ticket for speeding, but then months later received a letter saying they decided to take me to court (to my horror 200 miles away) after reviewing recent police judgements. I went online to legal forums place and they said they cannot do this and gave me advice of what to write. I wrote to the head of the police (where I got the ticket) and to my surprise they completely backed out. In the end I never even got the original ticket!! I even got the fine back. The police didn't know the law

Best to let it go and put it down to experience.